LAWMA truck driving against traffic crushes four in head-on collision (Tribune)
Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) has disclosed that four people were injured and hospitalised from a crash involved a truck and a van earlier today.
The statement issued by its spokesperson, Nosa Okunbor, LASEMA, noted that preliminary investigation showed that the truck belonging to the Lagos Waste Management Agency (LAWMA), drove against traffic before the unsuspecting van crashed into it.
“Following a distress call escalated through its Toll-Free 767/112 Emergency numbers, the Lagos State Emergency Management, LASEMA, Response Team recovered a LAWMA truck and a pickup van involved in an accident earlier today. Read more
Economic effect of COVID-19 killing us more than the pandemic itself – Small business owners (Punch)
One bright morning in early March, a Lagos-based real estate agent, Mr John Adewale, got a call from a potential client wanting to buy a property worth N15m at Oribanwa in the Ibeju Lekki area of Lagos. The deal was to be finalised by the end of the month and Adewale’s firm was to make at least 10 per cent of the property value – that is, N1.5m – in commission.
A day after he received the call, another potential client seeking to buy a four-bedroomed terraced duplex in the same area called Adewale. Without hesitation, the real estate agent gave the value of the property as N23m, hoping to make a decent commission of N2.3m. But the buyer postponed the property tour and possible purchase till April. Read more
Land dispute: Rival groups set community on fire in Lagos (Vanguard)
Men of the Lagos State Fire Service and other rescue teams were on Saturday, attacked and repelled by warring rival groups from putting out raging inferno which affected several structures in Ajah, Eti-Osa, Local Government Area of the state.
The fire, which was believed to have been started by the rival groups over land dispute involved three bungalow buildings with 48 rooms of varying sizes and 15 shanty structures. The buildings are situated on a land of about 1,944 square metres.
According to the report at press time, no life was recorded to have been lost, but several properties worth millions of naira were destroyed. Read more
Unrest in Lagos as bandits rob residents, loot shops (Punch)
There was unrest in the Alimosho and Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government Areas of Lagos State on Saturday afternoon as hoodlums took to the heavily residential areas to rob citizens and loot shops in the local markets.
This happened as the 14-day lockdown order of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to curb the spread of COVID-19 enters day 12 in Lagos State and Ogun State.
The two affected local governments in Lagos are the surburbs of the state with Ogun. Read more
Police arrest suspect for allegedly poisoning 143 bags of garden eggs in Enugu market (DailyTrust)
The Police in Enugu State have arrested a suspect for allegedly poisoning about 143 bags of garden eggs at a popular market within Enugu metropolis. The Command’s Public Relations Officer, ASP Daniel Ndukwe, said this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Saturday.
Ndukwe said that the suspect was carrying out his nefarious activity at Akwata sub-market of the Ogbete Main Market in Enugu. He said that the suspect was apprehended on April 8 at about 2 p.m. by police operatives from Central Police Station, Enugu. Read more
Natasha Akpoti donates Kogi’s first ventilators to fight COVID-19 (Vanguard)
Governorship candidate of Social Democratic Party (SDP), in Kogi State, Natasha Akpoti, on Friday donated three ventilators to the Federal Medical Centre Lokoja to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
According to a statement on Friday by the Natasha Akpoti Foundation, although the state had yet to record any COVID-19 case, the ventilators are the first to be installed in the public health facility in the state. Read more
Farmer impregnates 17-year-old stepdaughter (Nation)
Officials of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) have arrested a farmer, Emmanuel Ezekiel, in Akure for impregnating his 17- year-old step daughter.
The victim has been admitted at the Federal Medical Centre, Owo in Ondo state as it was discovered that her pregnancy was already nine months.
Doctors were said to have demanded N80,000 for surgical session before she could deliver her baby.
Sources said Ezekiel was arrested after some concerned neighbours reported the matter to the NSCDC. Read more
Website for recruitment of 774, 000 Nigerians is fake – FG (DailyTrust)
The Federal Government has said the portal in circulation on the social media for its recruitment exercise of 774, 000 Nigerians for the Special Public Works program is fake.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, on April 6, 2020, disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the engagement of 774, 000 Nigerians on Special Public Works programme in the country to cushion the effect of COVID-19 pandemic. She explained that 1, 000 people were expected to be recruited from each of the 774 local government areas in the country. Read more
Obiano orders total lock down of Anambra (Nation)
Anambra Governor Willie Obiano has ordered total lockdown of the state, which recorded its index case of COVID-19 on Friday.
He directed security operatives to arrest violators of the new order where necessary.
The Governor gave the directives on Saturday during a broadcast to the state on the new development.
According to him: “Ndi Anambra, I regret to announce that despite our proactive measures to insulate our dear state from this pandemic, we recorded the first case of Coronavirus in the state Friday. Read more
Be transparent in identifying the poor for palliatives -CAN charges govt (Tribune)
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has charged the state and Federal Government to apply transparency and inclusiveness in identifying the poor, whom relief materials had been made available for amid the present pandemic.
The CAN President, Reverend Samson Ayokunle who said this in an Easter message, commended the states and Federal Government for confronting the Coronavirus pandemic.
He said it might not be possible for government to reach out to all the poor in the country, but equal selection of the poor per state with balance in religious persuasion is necessary. Read more
Coronavirus: India to extend nationwide lockdown, state minister says (BBC)
Streets across India have been deserted because of the lockdown
India has decided to extend a strict nationwide lockdown imposed last month to stop the spread of the coronavirus, a top official says.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a video conference with state ministers, and many of them urged the government to prolong the measure.
Delhi’s chief minister said Mr Modi had agreed to extend the lockdown, due to end on Tuesday, without giving details.
There are concerns about how the curbs are affecting the poor and the economy. Read more
Botswana locks up stubborn MPs who flouted coronavirus quarantine (Vanguard)
Barely 24 hours after the Botswana government announced that all lawmakers were supposed to observe a period of quarantine for COVID-19 coronavirus, the Director of Health Services at the Ministry of Health and Wellness, says a number of MPs are to be put under government-supervised quarantine.
Dr Malaki Tshipayagae said the MPs in question had breached home quarantine after a number of them were seen shopping in supermarkets. He did not specify how many of the 65 members were affected by the new measures. The MPs are said to have been exposed to a health worker who was in attendance during a recent session. Read more
‘If you’re black you can’t go out’: Africans in China face racism in Covid-19 crackdown (France24)
Africans in southern China’s largest city say they have become targets of suspicion and subjected to forced evictions, arbitrary quarantines and mass coronavirus testing as the country steps up its fight against imported infections.
China says it has largely curbed its Covid-19 outbreak but a recent cluster of cases linked to the Nigerian community in Guangzhou sparked the alleged discrimination by locals and virus prevention officials.
Local authorities in the industrial centre of 15 million said at least eight people diagnosed with the illness had spent time in the city’s Yuexiu district, known as “Little Africa”. Read more
Congo, weary from Ebola, must also battle coronavirus (Vanguard)
Congo has been battling an Ebola outbreak that has killed thousands of people for more than 18 months, and now it must also face a new scourge: the coronavirus pandemic.
Ebola has left those living in the country’s east weary and fearful, and, just as they were preparing to declare an end to the outbreak, a new case popped up. Now, they will now have to manage both threats at once.
The new virus has overwhelmed some of the world’s best hospital systems in Europe and ripped through communities in New York. Read more
Spain’s daily virus toll falls again with 510 dead (Guardian)
Spain registered a fall in its daily death toll from the new coronavirus for a third consecutive day on Saturday with 510 people dying, the government said.
It was the smallest daily increase since March 23 in Spain, which is suffering one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in the world.
The update for the last 24 hours raised the country’s overall number of fatalities to 16,353 and the number of confirmed cases another 4,800 to 161,852. Read more
Evangelical NGO sets up Covid-19 field hospital in New York’s Central Park (France24)
A field hospital in Central Park is helping to treat the tens of thousands of New Yorkers who have been infected with Covid-19. Although the hospital has been set up by a controversial evangelical NGO, the city’s lack of hospital beds means the mayor and governor are ready to accept any help they can get. FRANCE 24 reports.
Located on the edge of New York’s sprawling Central Park, the field hospital, consisting of several white tents, has enough beds to take in 68 patients. It also has 10 respirators. Despite the city’s general lack of protective gear for healthcare workers, this particular field hospital seems to be well-stocked. Read more
US reports highest daily virus toll as billions mark Easter in lockdown (Guardian)
The United States became the first country to report more than 2,000 coronavirus deaths in a single day, marking a grim milestone as huge swathes of the globe celebrated the Easter holiday weekend under lockdown from home.
The global death toll from the virus surged past 103,000, with the United States quickly becoming the epicentre of the pandemic that first emerged in China late last year.
Europe has so far shouldered the majority of all deaths and infections — though there were signs of hope the curve could be starting to flatten in some of the hardest-hit countries. Read more
Wuthering Heights actress Hilary Heath dies aged 74 of coronavirus (Metro)
Actress Hilary Heath has sadly died at age 74. The actress and producer, best known for her work on Witchfinder General and Wuthering Heights, passed away of coronavirus complications. Her godson, Alex Williams, penned a statement on Facebook confirming the news. ‘We lost my wonderful Godmother Hilary Heath to Covid-19 last week,’ Alex wrote. ‘Hilary had many careers, starting out as a screen and stage actress in the 1960s and 1970s, and then re-inventing herself as a producer in the 1990s, making films like Nil by Mouth (Gary Oldman) and An Awfully Big Adventure (Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman). Read more
Infantino calls for caution on restarting football (Nation)
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said on Thursday that restarting football too early would be “irresponsible”.
Most domestic leagues around the world are on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic while major tournaments such as Euro 2020 and the Copa America have been postponed for one year.
“No match, no competition, no league is worth risking a single human life,” Infantino said. “It’s better to wait a little bit longer than to take risks.” Read more
Gelson Fernandes on returning to training, the Bundesliga restarting and pay cuts (BBC)
Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder Gelson Fernandes says players “feel lucky” to be back in training and he thinks the Bundesliga could restart in late May.
German teams were the first from Europe’s top leagues to return to training, with precautions in place, after the coronavirus pandemic caused football to be suspended.
The Bundesliga, halted on 13 March, will not resume before 30 April.
“When we come back, it will be behind closed doors,” said Fernandes. Read more
Liverpool hero Sir Kenny Dalglish tests positive for coronavirus (Metro)
Comment Dalglish has been admitted to hospital (Picture: BPI/REX) Share this article via facebookShare this article via twitter 37.7k SHARES Metro Sport Reporter Friday 10 Apr 2020 7:52 pm Liverpool hero Sir Kenny Dalglish has been admitted to hospital with coronavirus, the club has confirmed. Dalglish, 69, who served the Reds as both a player and a manager, is one of the most famous faces in Liverpool’s history and his family released a statement via the club’s official website. While Dalglish has tested positive for the virus, he is currently showing no symptoms. ‘The Dalglish family have tonight released the following statement to supporters regarding Sir Kenny Dalglish,’ the statement read. Read more
US PGA Tour reportedly exploring possibility of return without fans (Vanguard)
The US PGA Tour is considering various scenarios to a return to competition in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, including playing some events without fans, Golf Digest reported Friday.
The tour told players in a memo sent Thursday, and obtained by Golf Digest, that it was targeting a return for the Charles Schwab Challenge on May 21 at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
The tour suspended its season after the first round of the Players Championship last month and has since called off tournaments through the Byron Nelson Championship scheduled for May 7-10. Read more
Tyson faults Joshua on Muhammad Ali (Nation)
Mike Tyson has insisted that he would have lost a hypothetical fantasy fight against Muhammad Ali if they’d both met in their primes.
During the current period in which all sport has been put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic, boxing’s age-old debate has resurfaced on a couple of occasions.
First, current heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua said on a JD Sports Instagram Live: “It’s quite interesting because in the era of Muhammad Ali’s heavyweight reign, the heavyweights were ranked as the cruiserweights of the Mike Tyson era. Read more
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: Arsenal striker urged to join ‘more ambitious club’ (BBC)
Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang needs to “secure a contract with a more ambitious club,” says the president of the Gabon Football Association.
The striker finished last season as the joint-top scorer in the Premier League with 22 goals.
His contract is set to expire at the end of the 2020-21 season.
“Right now, he’s at Arsenal, and he’s won nothing here, so it’s a collective failing,” Pierre Alain Mounguengui told ESPN. Read more
Cristiano Ronaldo warned over his secret training sessions during coronavirus lockdown (Metro)
Cristiano Ronaldo has been warned over his conduct after he was pictured training at a football stadium in Madeira during the lockdown. The 35-year-old is currently spending time on his home island after Juventus gave their players permission to leave Italy following the coronavirus outbreak. Ronaldo was pictured training at the Madeira national stadium, home of CD Nacional, in the capital Funchal. Madeira’s regional secretary of health Pedro Ramos warned Ronaldo that he has ‘no privilege’ and must obey the lockdown rules in place. Read more